Rebel With A Cause (21 page)

She stood at the start line, her leather clad legs shoulder width apart. Her hair, slightly fanned out, danced in the gentle wind.

She raised her arms
high into the air
. It was
a move that had an impressive effect on her cleavage.

She looked around at the staring crowd. This was
her
moment.
She
was the one people were focused on. It was the guys staring at her with such admiration. She felt special, adored,
loved
.

She grinned. Deciding to tease it out a bit, she bent one arm and fluffed up her hair, before returning it upright. She pretended to adjust her stance, but really just wiggled her hips.

She laughed and moved her left leg forward. Bending her knees, she swung her arms down in one fluid motion.

There was a deafening roar as the cars shot forward, their engines revving as the drivers shifted up through the gears.

She straightened up, still grinning, and didn’t move as she was engulfed by the dust that was kicked up by the squealing tyres.

As the dust settled, people rushed forward
, wanting to watch as the racers disappeared around the corner. Kaitlyn didn’t care.

She meandered her way through the crowd that parted for her, aiming for T-Man.

She found him leaning against a dingy factory exterior, grimacing at the mould covered bricks.

“So, you and Carter, huh?” he asked her, kicking at the ground.
“Knew it wouldn’t last long.”

Kaitlyn shrugged. “I guess. Where’s De?”

T-Man eyed her, suspicious. “Why?”

She leaned against the
wall next to him and looked out at the crowd.

“Just wondering.
I wanted to say thanks.”

T-Man’s eyebrows shot up. “You want to say
thanks?
”

She nodded.
“Yeah.
If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be back with Carter.”

T-Man looked at her like she’d grown two heads. “Girl, you’re nuts.”

She laughed.
“Yeah, probably.”

They stared at their surroundings in a comfortable silence. T-Man was so laid-back, he didn’t care if they talked or not.

Kaitlyn spotted Bekah in the crowd, entirely unsurprised to see her. Marcus would be racing tonight, obviously. He always raced. He and Carter were notorious for their rivalry. If Carter raced, he raced.

Bekah came over and stood next to Kaitlyn.

“Hey,” she said in greeting.
“Haven’t seen you around lately.”

Kaitlyn grinned at her. “Yeah,
me
and Carter have been busy.”

Bekah laughed. “Getting busy, huh?”

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. “We’ve been renovating his house.”

Bekah looked surprised. “He has a house?”

“Yeah, he bought it a while ago, I guess.”

Bekah nodded. “Cool. I’ve been staying with Marcus lately, but his older brother’s coming to stay for a while, and I don’t really wanna be there while he is.”

Kaitlyn frowned. “Isn’t Brady supposed to be in the slammer?”

Bekah shrugged. “Dunno. I think so. But he’s getting out, something to do with overcrowding of prisons. He’s on house arrest, and he’s be
i
n
g
released into Marcus’
custody.”

Kaitlyn knew Carter would hate for his cousin to be living in a house with a guy like that, so she made an offer. “Do you wanna come and live with us, then? I know Carter wouldn’t mind.”

Bekah was surprised. “Are you sure? You guys don’t want some privacy?”

She shook her head. “It’s ok. I think you should come and stay with us. The house isn’t fit for habitation at the moment, ‘
cause
my mum is fixing it up, but when it’s done, you can move in.”

Bekah grinned. She leaned in and kissed Katie on the cheek. “Kaitlyn, I love you!”

They laughed in unison. It felt good to laugh with a girl about her age. It made her feel normal.

Now all she had to do was tell Carter.

They chatted for a few more minutes about nothing in particular.
It was oddly liberating.

But the squeal of tyres interrupted them. The car in the lead was a red, Mitsubishi Evolution. It was Carter’s car.

It amazed Kaitlyn that even after his break from racing, he was still the best. He was the one people wanted to win. Cheers erupted as he crossed the finish line, closely followed by Alec. Marcus was a slow third.

The first thing Carter did when he got out of his car was look for Kaitlyn. Their eyes met briefly, before she shot through the crowd and launched herself into his arms. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him deeply.

“Congrats,” she whispered.

Carter grinned and gently squeezed her hips. “Thanks.”

A not so subtle cough interrupted them. Carter
p
ut Kaitlyn down and looked over her head.
T-Man was standing there, a cheesy grin on his face.

“What?” Carter asked.

T-Man gave a nervous laugh. “Just wanna congratulate you on winning, and I wanna give you your winnings. But if you don’t want them…”

Everyone around them laughed.

“Dream on,” Carter smirked.
“Gimme my money.”

T-Man rolled his eyes and handed over a nondescript metal lunchbox. Carter opened it and grinned at the amount of money.

“How much?”
Kaitlyn asked T-Man.

“Two-fifty.”
He handed over another lunchbox, exactly like the
first one. “And this makes five.”

Kaitlyn opened the second lunchbox and squealed. She slammed the lid shut and pulled Carter’s head down to kiss him.

“Oh my god,” she whispered.
“So much money.
What are we going to do with it?”

Carter shrugged. “No idea. Bank it? I think after winning this much, my racing days are over.”

The crowd booed him. Carter could never stop racing. He was the best of the best. People loved him.

Looking around, Carter grinned.
“Just kidding.”

The crowd cheered. Kaitlyn looked at Carter and wondered how she could have landed him. He was amazing.

“But,” Carter continued, “I’m taking some time off. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”

Ignoring the booing, he fist bumped T-Man then got back in his car. Kaitlyn followed his lead.

In the car, as they drove away, Kaitlyn admired Carter.

If he really wanted to, he could be a
race car
drive
r, a professional
, she thought.

Carter caught her staring. “What?”

She sighed and looked down at her lap.
“Nothing.
I’m really proud of you.”

Carter’s chest swelled. It was nice to hear those words from her, especially after all the mistakes he’d made, and all the times he
’d
hurt her.

“Thanks,
Katie, that
means a lot.”

They
got back to Proximity and Carter promptly hid the money in the apartments safe. He and Kaitlyn readied themselves for bed, and settled in for the night.

He wrapped his arms around Kaitlyn and she laid her head on his chest. She traced the muscles of his chest with her fingers, wishing that he’d always been just hers, and not a cheater. He had broken her heart so often, that if he did it again, she feared it would be broken forever. If anything bad happened to him or to their relationship, she didn’t think she could handle it.

Carter was thinking. He wanted to make it up to Kaitlyn. He would do anything to make her happy. He just wished he could take his arrogant, cheating ways back and throw them away. He wanted to erase them.

Even proposing hadn’t worked. They’d broken up.

Maybe I should get a tattoo
, he thought.

In the next instant, his eyes were closed, and he succumbed to sleep.

Carter woke the next morning, a grin on his face.
Kaitlyn was encased in his arms, perfectly at peace. He wanted to make a huge declaration of love, to prove that he was worthy of her.

He loved her so much, and he couldn’t imagine life without her.

Slipping out of bed, he made sure not to disturb her, and snuck out of the apartment. He made his way down to the carpark where his car was and jumped in. He turned the engine on and drove to the nearest tattoo parlour.

He entered, and announced
to the tattoo artist what he wanted.

“Are you sure?” the guy asked him. “It’s not the best idea to get someone’s name tattooed on
yourself
.”

“It’s my daughter’s,” he lied.

The guy shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

He began working away at Carter’s tattoo. The pain wasn’t that bad, despite the guy saying it could be excruciating. Carter had felt worse.

An hour later, he proudly walked out with
Kaitlyn
tattooed across his shoulders.

He later entered the apartment
and found Kaitlyn in bed, watching a crappy daytime movie.

“Hey,” he said casually.

She laid down the remote and smiled at him. “Hey. Where’ve you been?”

He grinned and pulled his shirt off. He turned around
and showed her the tattoo.

He heard her gasp. “You got my name tattooed on your back?”

He turned around and grinned. “Yeah, you like it?”

Her jaw dropped. “I can’t believe it! Why? Why’d you do that?”

His smile dropped. “You don’t like it?”

She closed her mouth, and then opened it again, like a fish. “No, no,” she stuttered. “I love it. It’s just…why? I didn’t think this was your kind of thing.”

He shrugged. “I wanted to prove to you how much I love you, how much I care.
And seeing as asking for you to marry me didn’t work out…”

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “That’s the sweetest thing ever, Carter!”

His smile returned.
“Really?
You like it?”

She smiled back at him. “Yeah, I love it.”

“Awesome.”

He climbed into bed with her, shirtless. She grinned and
lay
back against him, letting his bare skin warm her up.

“I miss this,” she said quietly. “We used to do this all the time, do you remember? Then you got all weird on me.”

He sighed. “Can we just forget about that, Katie? I want to move forward, and forget the past. I was a screw-up, and I don’t really want to remember that.”

She sighed, silently agreeing with him. The past was the past.

She just wished her heart would remember that.

“So, what inspired you to get my name tattooed across your shoulders?”

H
e shrugged. “Like I said, I wanted to prove to you that you’re my one and only. I can’t imagine life without you.”

She blushed.
It seemed Carter was always making her blush. God, she loved him so much.

“I love you,” he promised. “I love you so much.”

She sighed, utterly content.
“I love you too, Carter.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I promise
,
I will never let anyone hurt you, ever again. I swear
,
no one will even get close to doing that. I’ll murder them in their beds before they do.”

She giggled. “Thanks,
that means a lot.”

Carter sighed dramatically. “Don’t you trust me, Katie?”

She rolled her eyes and raised her head. She looked him in the eye. “You are so weird.”

They both burst out laughing. It was as if things were back to normal.

But Carter had a gut feeling that things were just going to get worse.

***

Deangelo
Carboni
was fuming. After being thrown out form T-Man’s house, he’d been banned from any and all future races T-Man organised.

He just didn’t get it! What was it about that bitch that made everyone want to take her side?! Hell, did they not see how she was all over him at that K’Road race?

He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to fight.

“Babe?
Are you coming to bed?” That was his latest girlfriend, Aria. She was the sister of his ex, and
the aunty of his dead daughter.